<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Meeting the Seattle media for the first time Friday, newly-acquired SuperSonics forward Danny Fortson recounted his reaction to hearing about his trade to the Sonics from Dallas when it was consummated Monday. Fortson was pleased to be traded to a better situation with the Sonics. Mavericks Photos "I was pretty excited," Fortson said. "Donnie (Nelson) Jr. was calling me all morning - I knew something was going on. He said this was going to be a great situation for me. That's all I needed to hear. As a player, you just want to be in a situation where you can go and succeed." It's been a while since that was the case for Fortson, as he went from playing more than 28 minutes per game three of his first five years in the NBA to averaging less than 15 minutes of action a night the last two seasons in Golden State and Dallas. The Warriors went with a youth movement, featuring rookie Mike Dunleavy and one-year vet Troy Murphy at forward along with their leading scorer, Antawn Jamison. In Dallas, Fortson was again behind Jamison, as well as All-Stars Dirk Nowitzki and Antoine Walker. So, while Fortson called being traded "tough", he also said, "I'm down for trades as many times as I need to be traded to get to where I know I'm capable of being." That very well could be Seattle. Sonics Coach Nate McMillan made it clear that Fortson - along with rookie Nick Collison and incumbents Reggie Evans and Vladimir Radmanovic - is in contention to start at power forward. Fortson and Collison, along with Jerome James and Vitaly Potapenko, will be battling for playing time in the middle. "Nobody's promised a starting position," McMillan explained. "He has an opportunity. There will be several guys competing at that position. I think with his ability to play the four and, some nights, slide to the five spot, it allows me the opportunity to use these guys in different situations. They will have to compete for minutes."</div> Full Story courtesy of nba.com/sonics.
I like this trade for a lot of reasons. Fortson is a little undersized but he is a beast on the boards and he brings a lot of toughness to Seattles front line. IF he plays around 30 minutes a game I can see him easily averaging over 10 rebounds per game. Sonics will be a weird team after this trade too. They have two oversized 3's in Vladimir Radmanovic and Rashard Lewis and one undersize 4 in Fortson.
Haha, fair point, but funnily enough our team balance is better after this trade. Now we just need to work out the small forward spot, but I have a feeling that will be left until the trade deadline.
What kind of a team are we? Up tempo? Half court? Trapping? Gritty? We do have a odd group of players assembled. http://nbadraft.net/smith-rowsey001.asp This article hits it on the head for the Sonics. We are a team of individuals. Management and the coaches have a different vision. Players have a difficult time accepting their roles. Leadership is in question. And what makes it worse is that there are so many people this season who are in the last year of their contract. Sund, McMillian (and all of his assistants), Murray, Allen, Radmanovic, James, Daniels, and Evans will all be free agents next season. How many of these people do you think will have the teams best interest at heart next season? Management needs to step up and start giving out clear objectives b/c the confusion will ultimately lead to an implosion within the organization.
If we follow through on the idea of replacing Antonio Daniels with Damon Jones, at least we'll have two point guards that are going to give everyone their looks at the basket, i.e. the role Brent played in our early season run. But I do agree, there is a lot of individualism out there... mainly at the SF position. Something must be done in that regard.
Well one just hopes we don't become like the Clippers a couple of years ago; a bunch of guys in the last season of their deals playing for new contracts. However, looking at that list of guys in the last year of their contracts, and it's a bit misleading IMO - Radmanovic will only be restricted after this season, Ray will be re-signed if we have any intention of keeping him around, Daniels is a team guy and may not even be here, while James and Evans aren't exactly going to get on the floor if they play selfish. Flip is the guy playing for his payday.
I'm more concerned w/ McMillian and Sund being in their last season of their contracts moreso than I am our bench players. What will be Sund's incentive to improve our team if he feels like he will be moving on to another team following this season? Do you think that he will be concerned w/ getting Flip out from underneath his league minimum contract or extending Ray Allen's contract (two priorities of this season)? Will Nate McMillian stop coaching to win games and start playing the younger players so that they can develop? Will certain players trade value go down as a result of fewer minutes? I know that many of the players who will be free agents have already done well for themselves financially (unlike the Clippers from two seasons ago) but this season is so crucial for this franchise that I would hope that we would go into the season w/ the same agenda. Barring injury Ray Allen will get top dollar where ever he goes. James, Evans, and Daniels are all role players who won't be in high demand. Radmanovic has interest around the league so it is important that he has a good season so that he can be used as trade bait if things don't work out. The one player who is really competing for a contract is Flip. I'm not too concerned about him b/c all he needs to produce is minutes. I don't think that he is playing for a contract, I think that he is playing for respect.
